When I participated in the Madonnari Festival last October, I created a chalk art piece on the pavement consisting of large triangles, and a photographer stopped by who was taking pictures of artists’ dust-covered hands while we worked.

That’s how I met Yvonne Yen of the TEDxJHU design committee while she was shooting photos, and I had an opportunity to talk to her about my work.

Six weeks later we bumped into each other on 33rd Street, and she mentioned they were looking for a featured artist for the TEDxJHU event in 2017, I didn’t know how many people were under consideration or what my chances were of being selected but I said I was very interested and would hope to find out more.

I started off the new year with a new project, painting dozens of 1-foot-square wood panels to generate some momentum and work out a new series of geometric abstractions.

So fortunately when I got a message from Yvonne saying they would like me to participate in the event, I already had a good amount of work in progress and would think of ways to display it in the venue on campus.

For the March 11 event, we have expanded the scope of this art exhibition to include four different installations in the atrium, lobby and auditorium spaces, and it’s been a tremendously exciting challenge to bring it all together.

The TEDxJHU team of students and alumni has been incredibly attentive and supportive of this project in addition to all the work they do organizing the speakers and event.